2014 any preliminary rules????

[mathhammer]

in general just asking for direction on the following so I know what to get to painting.

dataslates ?
escalation ?
stronghold Assault ?
points level ?
allies ?

[hisdudeness]

That is a great question, but I believe this section is fire and forget. I rarely see any responses from admin here.

[mathhammer]

big red has to be alive someplace in the warp

[Caldera02]

Hey guys, Wolf and I will get together and hammer out the final details and post them soon.

[rybnick]

Hey guys, Wolf and I will get together and hammer out the final details and post them soon.

Still nothing posted regarding rules or even what events are going on at Bolscon this year (I refuse to call it Texas gamescon). I'm getting really skeptical that this con is going to happen. We should of had events, rules and tickets available 2 months ago.

Fyi this is not hoe you increase attendance, my gaming group has been attending Bolscon for the last 4 years and has loved it each year but it looks like the con might be dying. Moving from the amazing Renaissance venue back to the sub par Diuble Tree hurts but I understand why they needed to make the move, it's just mind boggling that there is no information about this years con with only a couple months until the event. Sadly my friends and I might have to find a new yearly con to attend.

[hisdudeness]

That's my thinking also. The last two years, rules and event info was posted 6+ month from the con. Now we can't even get answers from the organizers on the official forums.

I'm curious about the name changes every few years, also. The information blackhole worries me.

[Jwolf]

Howdy everyone.

So yes, I have been delaying information about the con rules. This 100% has to do with the rapidly changing 40K landscape and nothing to do with being disorganized. And the first year we didn't even know we were having a convention until 3 months out and that came off fantastically, so even if nothing had been done, we would be very able to pull this off without breaking a sweat. And we've been working on the 40K GT plans since Saturday of last year.

So, here's the scoop on 40K Grand Tournaments:

When we started doing 40K tournaments 6 years ago, no one in the US was doing anything terribly competitive with a very competitive ruleset. Tournaments were often 3 to 5 games, and not much was done to look for Swiss or even solid evaluative methods for the whole field. Now there are many fine competitive events available, with up to 8 games played to find the winner, so competitive is pretty well represented. That said, the ruleset has made a drastic shift in the other direction - codex power is not done justice with the term creep, 6th edition and airpower mean that games are much more complex and the possibility of walking up to a table with an near-automatic win or loss is very present. TOs are playing editor with portions of rules, expansions, and dataslates being modified for play balance or what have you. I have never been a fan of partial rules sources or rewriting rules that were not obviously unclear for my own nefarious purposes (though I know others have read this otherwise).

So, how do we respond to the madness of 6th edition, dataslates, escalation, breakthrough, and gross imbalance between books?

Like this:

The 40K Limited Grand Tournament: 1500 points, all lists MUST BE submitted and approved. Codexs ONLY - no Escalation, Breakthrough, or online-only content (current exceptions include codices only released online). On what criteria are approvals given? If I would walk up to the table and play against your army without thinking "lame netlist, I'd rather play against something else," which roughly equates to a list most people would scream and curse about. Some examples - Screamerstar, Seer Council Shennanigans, a fistful of Wave Serpents, some Flying Circuses, and very little else. Really it's hard to give an all-inclusive list, but the goal here is to have a tournament that allows casual players to play the game, not scoop up models.

The 40K Unlimited Grand Tournament: 2000 points, no list submission, all add-ons allowed except Forgeworld. Yes, you can shoot people with D weapons from your crazy fortress of doom. Yes, this is double force organization. Expect to walk up to the table having essentially won or lost the game before it starts.

Both of these tournaments run 4 games Saturday, 2 games Sunday, identical timing. Both have sign-up limits and similar prize support.

So there's the story. I apologize for the appearance of ignoring you all - I've been busy, and the landscape has changed so dramatically and rapidly that I am very glad that we held off on announcing anything specific for so long. Last year we announced very far in advance and the game shifted significantly between the time we announced and the tournament, leading to some rather ugly incidents with Forgeworld rules and new codices.

See you at Bolscon / Wargamescon / Texasgamescon / Yournameherecon in 3 months! :)

[hisdudeness]

Thanks for the update!!

[rybnick]

Howdy everyone.

So yes, I have been delaying information about the con rules. This 100% has to do with the rapidly changing 40K landscape and nothing to do with being disorganized. And the first year we didn't even know we were having a convention until 3 months out and that came off fantastically, so even if nothing had been done, we would be very able to pull this off without breaking a sweat. And we've been working on the 40K GT plans since Saturday of last year.

So, here's the scoop on 40K Grand Tournaments:

When we started doing 40K tournaments 6 years ago, no one in the US was doing anything terribly competitive with a very competitive ruleset. Tournaments were often 3 to 5 games, and not much was done to look for Swiss or even solid evaluative methods for the whole field. Now there are many fine competitive events available, with up to 8 games played to find the winner, so competitive is pretty well represented. That said, the ruleset has made a drastic shift in the other direction - codex power is not done justice with the term creep, 6th edition and airpower mean that games are much more complex and the possibility of walking up to a table with an near-automatic win or loss is very present. TOs are playing editor with portions of rules, expansions, and dataslates being modified for play balance or what have you. I have never been a fan of partial rules sources or rewriting rules that were not obviously unclear for my own nefarious purposes (though I know others have read this otherwise).

So, how do we respond to the madness of 6th edition, dataslates, escalation, breakthrough, and gross imbalance between books?

Like this:

The 40K Limited Grand Tournament: 1500 points, all lists MUST BE submitted and approved. Codexs ONLY - no Escalation, Breakthrough, or online-only content (current exceptions include codices only released online). On what criteria are approvals given? If I would walk up to the table and play against your army without thinking "lame netlist, I'd rather play against something else," which roughly equates to a list most people would scream and curse about. Some examples - Screamerstar, Seer Council Shennanigans, a fistful of Wave Serpents, some Flying Circuses, and very little else. Really it's hard to give an all-inclusive list, but the goal here is to have a tournament that allows casual players to play the game, not scoop up models.

The 40K Unlimited Grand Tournament: 2000 points, no list submission, all add-ons allowed except Forgeworld. Yes, you can shoot people with D weapons from your crazy fortress of doom. Yes, this is double force organization. Expect to walk up to the table having essentially won or lost the game before it starts.

Both of these tournaments run 4 games Saturday, 2 games Sunday, identical timing. Both have sign-up limits and similar prize support.

So there's the story. I apologize for the appearance of ignoring you all - I've been busy, and the landscape has changed so dramatically and rapidly that I am very glad that we held off on announcing anything specific for so long. Last year we announced very far in advance and the game shifted significantly between the time we announced and the tournament, leading to some rather ugly incidents with Forgeworld rules and new codices.

See you at Bolscon / Wargamescon / Texasgamescon / Yournameherecon in 3 months! :)

All of that sounds excellent! Thank you so much for the update, as I said above we really do enjoy our time in Austin every year we were just getting anxious for news as June grows ever closer and this tournament represents an 8 hours plus drive as well as begging for time away from wives/kids for most of us.

Any update on other events (Apocalypse, X-wing, etc.)?

With that said 7907

[UglyKat]

I love Bolscon/Wargamescon and have attended every one since the first. I'm disappointed that's it's going to be back at the old location. The Renaissance was really big, and was in a great location (going to the Spa next door was the highlight of the trip for my wife). I'm not sure how they'll fit all these events into that small DoubleTree venue. I've pretty much given up on 40k tournaments, since the game has become ridiculously unbalanced since the last Wargamescon, this year i'll be doing Warhammer Fantasy. Will the info for the WFB tournament be posted soon?

[Jwolf]

UglyKat - The downside of moving back to the Doubletree is the location is not as convenient for some amenities. The upsides are the cost is much better; to be back there for 2014 we were looking at significant increases to ticket prices and room rates of $149 a night; this just did not make sense for most people. Instead tickets will be cheaper and the rooms are also cheaper. WFB has the rules set ready; we are looking to release everything with the cart, which will be up very soon.

Rybnick - X-wing will have events every evening, and Narrative will be much broader than in previous years. We really think 40K is headed in a Narrative / Apoc / "Cinematic" direction now, so we're ramping that axis up.

[Jarrod Jennings]

Will the 40k doubles tournament be returning this year?

[The Girl]

Will the info for the WFB tournament be posted soon?

This is the tourney rundown; more will be available asap:

Friday
Escalation
3 Games (1000;2000,3000)

Saturday and Sunday
5 Games (3 and 2)
2500pts.

Lists will be reviewed for anything unfun please send to [email protected]
Lists due by June 1

[rybnick]

UglyKat - The downside of moving back to the Doubletree is the location is not as convenient for some amenities. The upsides are the cost is much better; to be back there for 2014 we were looking at significant increases to ticket prices and room rates of $149 a night; this just did not make sense for most people. Instead tickets will be cheaper and the rooms are also cheaper. WFB has the rules set ready; we are looking to release everything with the cart, which will be up very soon.

Rybnick - X-wing will have events every evening, and Narrative will be much broader than in previous years. We really think 40K is headed in a Narrative / Apoc / "Cinematic" direction now, so we're ramping that axis up.

Freaking awesome, thanks JWolf!

[Jwolf]

Will the 40k doubles tournament be returning this year?

Yes, Friday will have doubles. Expect 1000 points per player and odd missions that may not be as simple as winning and losing.

[KINGS]

I didn't see it posted but will FW be aloud, and if so, to what capacity?

Personally very happy to be returning to the double tree. Renaissance was really nice but far too expensive of drinks and food, NTM rooms and tickets. The most important part is the games, which will be amazing, so it is nice to hear the cost to participate will be more affordable.

Thanks Wolf.

[The Girl]

To make sure information isn't lost, please post your questions about the 1500 Point Composition Limited and 2000 Point Unlimited Tournaments here (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?43069-Questions-about-40K-Limited-Unlimited-Tournaments&p=406522#post406522).

Thanks, folks :)

[Jwolf]

40K Answers:

No Forgeworld. I hate disallowing individual pieces from the Forgeworld books, and there is no way to play complete games with all of Forgeworld available, so it had to go altogether. We are considering Forgeworld for next year if we go to an even more relaxed pacing - having 20-30 minutes pregame to cover lists is really necessary to make 40K with all expansions playable fun for casual players facing hardcore lists.

The question of Escalation was also email in. The answer is no, no Escalation.

[Ramzus]

Yes, Friday will have doubles. Expect 100 points per player and odd missions that may not be as simple as winning and losing.

100 points per player? surely this was a typo and meant to be 1000 points per player? I can't imagine playing a doubles game with just a rune priest! =)

[Jwolf]

Haha, good catch. Better than typing 10000 per player, I guess. :)

[Ramzus]

Ya it would be rough to run a double apoc game with 40,000 points on the table lol...

[unwashed]

Freaking awesome, thanks JWolf!

Hey Rybnick,

My name Dan I am one of the guys organizing the Narrative this year. Our goal is to run one battle with many settings (games). There is Kill Team games, regular theme games and Apoc all going on around the same battle. Each game will have a narrative mission that all contribute to the same battle. Our job is to find a fun part of the fight for everyone who signs up. We are putting out video blog as we work through planning (posted on the Facebook site). Keep an eye out for #2 Monday.

-Dan